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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, August 19th 2026 - 08:04 UTC

Uruguay

  • Thursday, July 9th 2026 - 05:03 UTC

    Argentina's polar spell eases as Patagonia faces rain, snow and 90 km/h gusts

    Between the start and middle of the week, the instability extends toward the Chubut mountain range and parts of Río Negro and Neuquén

    The intense polar air mass that affected much of Argentina during the first days of July has begun to ease, with a gradual rise in temperatures across the center and north of the country, while Patagonia now concentrates the most severe weather. The National Meteorological Service (SMN) has kept warnings in place for rain, snow and strong winds in the far south.

  • Monday, July 6th 2026 - 02:08 UTC

    Orsi praises Fujimori's 'exemplary perseverance' in a cross-ideological call

    “Congratulations on two things: first on the win, and on your perseverance, which is exemplary,” Orsi said, referring to Fujimori's path to power on her fourth attempt after three lost runoffs

    Uruguay's left-wing President Yamandú Orsi congratulated Peru's right-wing president-elect, Keiko Fujimori, by phone on her runoff victory, in a contact that bridged the ideological divide in a region where most governments have shifted to the right. The conversation, released by the Office of Peru's President-Elect, came amid the government transition in the Andean country, with the handover set for July 28.

  • Friday, July 3rd 2026 - 09:58 UTC

    Mercosur backs Argentina days after Islanders' UN appeal for self-determination

    Mercosur's 68th Presidential Summit in Asunción issued a Special Declaration reiterating their support for Argentina's “legitimate rights” in the sovereignty dispute over the Falklands

    Within the span of a week, the two opposing positions in the Falklands dispute were laid out clearly in two separate arenas: South American governments' backing for Argentina's sovereignty claim, and the defense of self-determination that two representatives of the Islanders took to the United Nations. Neither pronouncement was a reply to the other, but together they illustrate the distance between two hard-to-reconcile logics.

  • Friday, July 3rd 2026 - 08:55 UTC

    In Uruguay, Kast urges harsher penalties for crime leaders and total prison isolation

    Kast held that security is the main condition for economic development and described organized crime as a “cancer” affecting all of Latin America

    Chile's President José Antonio Kast argued on Wednesday in Montevideo that the region's countries must toughen their laws to combat organized crime, with life sentences for those who lead gangs and a regime of total isolation in prisons to stop them from continuing to operate from behind bars. The president laid out his position after meeting with Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi, as part of an official visit to Uruguay.

  • Thursday, July 2nd 2026 - 09:11 UTC

    Uruguay and Chile agree to coordinate against organized crime after an Orsi-Kast summit

    Kast said that both countries' security “has been undermined by transnational organized crime”

    The presidents of Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi, and Chile, José Antonio Kast, agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation against transnational organized crime, following a meeting held on Wednesday at the Suárez y Reyes presidential residence in Montevideo. In a joint statement, the leaders announced understandings on security, fisheries, Antarctica, the bi-oceanic corridor and economic integration, as part of Kast's official visit to Uruguay.

  • Wednesday, July 1st 2026 - 08:26 UTC

    Uruguay takes over the Mercosur presidency vowing to modernize and open the bloc

    Orsi described the closing semester as “historic” for the signing of the pact with the EU, which he called a “turning point” for economic integration and investment

    Uruguay's President Yamandú Orsi on Tuesday assumed the pro tempore presidency of Mercosur and set as a priority of his term to “keep modernizing” the bloc and consolidate its trade opening, following the provisional entry into force of the agreement with the European Union. “We want a more modern, more dynamic Mercosur, more open to the world, but above all a Mercosur that produces concrete results for its citizens,” he said as he received the rotating presidency from host Santiago Peña of Paraguay, at the 68th summit of heads of state held in Luque.

  • Tuesday, June 30th 2026 - 22:22 UTC

    Mercosur turns to Asia with Japan talks as the EU quota split stays unresolved

    Mercosur on Tuesday announced the start of trade negotiations with Japan and reaffirmed its intention to diversify alliances toward Asia during its biannual summit in Asunción, where Paraguay handed over the bloc's pro tempore presidency to Uruguay. The meeting, however, closed without an agreement on the internal distribution of export quotas under the treaty with the European Union, and again exposed the differences between Argentina and Brazil over the bloc's direction.

  • Thursday, June 25th 2026 - 22:13 UTC

    The EU deal's quota split will dominate the Mercosur summit as Uruguay takes the helm

    The agreement's commercial chapter entered provisionally into force on May 1, after more than 25 years of negotiations

    The internal distribution of export quotas under the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union will dominate much of the debate at the bloc's summit of heads of state, to be held on June 30 in Asunción, where Paraguay will hand over the six-month presidency to Uruguay. The meeting coincides with the 35th anniversary of the Treaty of Asunción, the bloc's founding charter.

  • Wednesday, June 24th 2026 - 09:54 UTC

    Uruguay to deploy army armored vehicles to patrol high-crime Montevideo neighborhoods

    The initiative drew controversy and reopened the discussion about the role of the Armed Forces in internal security

    Uruguay's government announced that twelve Mamba MK-7 armored vehicles from the National Army will begin to patrol, under police command, the Montevideo neighborhoods with the highest crime rates, a measure to reinforce the fight against organized crime that has opened debate in the political system. Interior Minister Carlos Negro confirmed that his ministry is working on a “very advanced” agreement with the Defense Ministry to carry out the deployment in the coming days.

  • Monday, June 22nd 2026 - 18:19 UTC

    Uruguay deepens its search for the dictatorship's disappeared with access to new archives

    The March of Silence crosses Montevideo every May 20 since 1996 under the motto “Where are they?”, seeking truth and justice for the dictatorship's disappeared. Photo: Sebastián Astorga

    Uruguay expanded its policy of searching for those who were detained and disappeared during the dictatorship with the signing of an accord for the treatment, preservation and administration of archives on human-rights violations committed in the country between 1968 and 1985. The agreement, signed on Monday in Montevideo, deepens a strategic pact reached by state bodies in February.